Japanese Cuisine

Michelle Konkoly, Katie Bauer, Zach Zimmerman, and David Glovach

Sushi
Rice, usually topped with other ingredients such as raw fish or vegetables Can be rolled in nori (pressed and dried seaweed) Many different types, depending on ingredients and presentation Served with Shōyu, or soy sauce, and wasabi

Noodles
Noodles are very popular in Japanese Cuisine. Some varieties include: Ramen – thin, wheat based noodles in soda water
(you’re probably familiar with American Ramen)

Chopsticks
乘 Pair of even length sticks that can be made out of wood, metal, bamboo, etc. 乘 Used for most eating in Japan, so practice using them before we leave

乘 1) Put one chopstick between the palm and the base of the thumb, using the ring finger (the fourth finger) to support the lower part of the stick. With the thumb, squeeze the stick down while the ring finger pushes it up. The stick should be stationary and very stable. 乘 2) Use the tips of the thumb, index and middle fingers to hold the other stick like a pen. Make sure the tips of the two sticks line up. 乘 3) Pivot the upper stick up and down towards the stationary lower stick. With this motion one can pick up food of surprising size. 乘 4) With enough practice, the two sticks function like a pair of pincers.

Typical Meal
A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice (gohan) is a bowl of soup and some tsukemono (pickles) Some examples of the popular meals are Nabemono (Japanese stews) Unagi (griled eel) Yakitori (grilled chicken) Okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) Oden (fish cake stew) The typical Japanese meal consists of a bowl of rice (gohan) a bowl of miso soup (miso shiru) pickled vegetables (tsukemono) fish or meat.

Chopstick Etiquette
乘 Rarely are they used to stab items, so learn to use them correctly 乘 Treat them like western silverware (don’t make noise w/them, wave with them, move bowls w/them, etc.) 乘 NEVER pass food from your chopsticks to someone else’s 乘 NEVER stick chopsticks upright in rice (reminiscent of funeral incense) 乘 DON’T take food off of a communal plate with the pointy end (that you put in your mouth), instead take food from a shared plate with the wide end of the sticks 乘 Don’t cross them as this symbolizes death 乘 Rubbing chopsticks together after breaking them is saying to the host that you think the chopsticks are cheap 乘 Don’t worry about eating rice, they cook it with less moisture so that it is clumpy and easy to pick up with chopsticks! 乘 The higher up you hold them, the less touristy you seem, so practice hard! 乘 Don’t pick up a cup or bowl while holding chopsticks in your hand